GUY Verhofstadt was slapped down by a senior European Union official after comparing the bloc’s powerful executive to the “Soviet Union” at a summit of European liberals in Spain.

The former Belgian prime minister proclaimed he did not like the name of the European Commission because its sounds like something from the Soviet Union during his speech at the ALDE conference in Madrid.

Related articles

Analysing Brexit negotiations, the Foreign Secretary asked Tory activists: “What happened to the confidence and ideals of the European dream?

“The EU was set up to protect freedom. It was the Soviet Union that stopped people leaving.

“The lesson from history is clear: if you turn the EU club into a prison, the desire to get out won’t diminish, it will grow – and we won’t be the only prisoner that will want to escape."

The EU Parliament’s Brexit coordinator said Mr Hunt’s remarks were “offensive and outrageous” and would deeply disturb Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher in his own response to the Foreign Secretary.